CHRISTIANSBURG (WSLS 10) - A former Montgomery County Department of Social Services employee now knows she will spend the next two years and three months in prison.
Judge Robert M.D. Turk sentenced 43-year-old Pamela Basham, of Christiansburg, to 10 years, with seven years and nine months suspended, for embezzling more than $224,000 from the Department of Social Services. He also placed her on probation and ordered her to make restitution to the county.
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Basham had previously pleaded guilty and been found guilty of six counts of embezzlement. The embezzlement occurred over a 10-year period, between 2005 and 2015, while she was serving as assistant director of the department.
During that decade, she used her county credit card to buy numerous items for herself including clothes, food, voice recorders, computer equipment, toys, shoes, cameras, cell phone cases, furniture and vacuum cleaners. She sometimes had them shipped directly to her home. Sometimes, she would put a client's name on the purchase order to justify the purchase.
Basham expressed remorse for her actions citing personal financial difficulties as a result of a divorce in 2003 and trying to support her adult son, his child, and her mother.
The Commonwealth argued that Basham's actions reduced the resources available for those eligible to receive services from Social Services and pointed out that her actions occurred many times, over many years.
The Commonwealth asked that the judge sentence to five years in prison.
